Plans for 125 homes in Smethwick are approved
A scheme for 125 new homes in Smethwick has been given the green light by council planning bosses.
The homes are part of the £84 million Windmill Eye project which will eventually see about 750 new homes built in Smethwick.
Windmill Eye sits with the A457 Soho Way and Grove Lane to the north, and High Street and Cape Hill, to the south.
Barratt Homes wants to build 57 homes at the site of the old Windmill Precinct, a further 46 on the site of the former Hamilton House in Grove Lane, and 22 at the site of French Walls in Popular Street.
The three housing estates were submitted to the council as three separate planning applications.
The sites were cleared more than five years ago and have been empty ever since.
The homes will be made up of two, three, four and six-bedroom properties, the majority of which will be two-storey houses. There will also be some flats over garages.
The development has been supported by the Homes and Communities Agency, and 46 per cent of the new homes in the scheme will be affordable.
Sandwell Council's planning committee approved the scheme at their meeting last night.
Smethwick councillor Roger Horton said: "The Smethwick Regeneration Board has been actively involved in the consultation process on this project. We have been on a number of site visits with residents, and have talked to them about their concerns. I think it is this work which has meant we have had no objections to the plan today, because they had all been ironed out. I am very pleased to see the scheme going through today."
Smethwick councillor and council leader Darren Cooper said he was delighted to see the plans approved.
He said: "This is the biggest housing development in Smethwick and in Soho and Victoria for the last 40 years, and I am delighted that much needed affordable housing is going to be built in the area.
"This is an example of how Sandwell Council is committed to building new homes for the residents of this borough."
The news comes days after a separate £8m scheme for Smethwick was announced, featuring new commercial buildings as well as improved pedestrian links between the railway station and High Street.
